Clade Song 7

What We Are

What we are doing we are saying you are                  useful
                                                                                 useful
                                                                                 useful
                                                                                                  the sound of cicadas singing
No not use not utility           we are saying
                                          we are saying
                                          we are trying to say
                                                                                                  when air is thick with green
You are worthy
               worthy
                       not worthy not unworthy
                       we are not saying that
                                                                                                       cicada song goes silent
                        to whom
                                             to whom
                                                                  to whom
                                                                                               when cicada song goes silent
And no not to whom
                  not to whom but—
                                                                                                                         beavers cry
we are saying
                                    we were saying
                                                                        we were trying to say
                                                                                               while listening to beavers cry
we were trying to say
                                                                        we love you
                           we love you                                                                           we love you

Yes, we were trying to say that.

Heather Judy is a poet and artist living in Sacramento. She earned her MFA in Poetry from Mills College in 2009. Before attending Mills, she received her BA in English from CSU, Sacramento where she won the 2005 Bazzanella Award for first place in poetry. Her poems have appeared in Tule Review, The California Quarterly, Flatmancrooked's Thin Volume of Contemporary Poetry, and others. She is currently on staff at Tule Review, and co-curates for the Sacramento Poetry Center art gallery. She sees words in color.